documento

Forms

documento m (plural documentos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin documentum (“teaching; example; proof”).^[2][1][3][4] The Latin noun is formed doceō (“to teach”) + -mentum.^[5][1][6] In Medieval Latin it had come to mean also written evidence, a deed.^[7] It belongs to the same family as doctor, docto, doctrina, dócil and docente.^[4][3]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *dok-eje-, from Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-éye- (“to make someone accept something”); de Vaan compares Hittite dākki (“seems”) and Ancient Greek δοκεῖ (dokéō, “it seems”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit, in the Vida de San Ildefonso (1303–1309), is known only from a 19th-century copy.^[9] The first reliable hits are of the late 14th century in Aragonese texts: Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Orosius calls a summary of God's judgements a sumario documento de los iudicios de Dios, and the ordinances of Barbastro of 1396 mention cartas o otros documentos “letters or other documents” as evidence in disputes.^[9] Corominas dated the word to about 1520.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word mainly meant “teaching, instruction”: Nebrija glossed Latin documentum as enseñança in 1492, Cervantes used it for “instructions” in 1613, and Autoridades gives only this sense, especially advice given so that someone may avoid an error.^[10][3][11] Terreros already records the modern sense.^[3] According to Vox, the meaning “writing that proves something” arose in the 18th century through the language of law.^[12]

In the Americas a documento judicial is recorded in Venezuela in 1796.^[13] The DLE now gives the old sense “instruction” as obsolete, and today the word also names a computer file.^[2][12][14] In Spain the identity card is the documento nacional de identidad.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 1303–1309 – the Vida de San Ildefonso (in a 19th-century copy).^[9]
• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Orosius.^[9]
• 1396 – cartas o otros documentos in the ordinances of Barbastro.^[9]
• 1492 – Nebrija glosses Latin documentum as “teaching”.^[10]
• c. 1520 – Corominas's first record, in Padilla.^[3]
• 1613 – Cervantes uses it for “instructions”.^[3]
• 1618 – first record from the Americas.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as teaching or advice.^[11]
• 1796 – a documento judicial in Venezuela.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A diploma, letter, account or other writing that informs about a fact, especially a historical one; a document.^[2][1]
2. A writing with reliable data that can be used to prove something; a record: Firmó todos los documentos de la venta.^[2][1]
3. Anything that bears witness to a fact, especially of the past: Aquella vasija es un documento de su época..^[2]
4. (computing) A file made with a word processor or a similar program.^[12][14]
5. (obsolete) Instruction or advice given to someone on any matter.^[2][11]

Word family

• documental
• documentar
• documentario
• documentación

Related words

• doctor
• doctrina
• docente
• Latin documentum
• Latin doceō

Usage notes

In law a documento auténtico is one that has been authorised or legalised, and a documento privado is one signed by the parties without a notary.^[2][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. documento
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 509
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. doctor
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 237
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. documento
10. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. documento
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 327
12. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. documento
13. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. documento
14. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. documento
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. documento